Tag Archives: pillar point harbor jetty

Where I went to sit and fish with you
We were off of work, and the time felt right
Working all day, catching fish all night!
Okay, done playing with Yellowcard’s song. Doesn’t really fit either, but its stuck in my head right now! If you haven’t guessed it yet, this is going to be a Half Moon Bay jetty fishing report (W Point Ave. is a street near the jetty). We went out to Pillar Point Harbor at night the last two weeks (once a week) to poke pole the jetties after work. Unwind a little, catch a few fish, hang out with friends, you know. Well, it turned out to just be Patrick & me in the end, but that’s fine! More fish for us! 😀

Both days we went out, we didn’t hit the jetties until after 8:30pm. Truly night fishng d= We started off with squid on a carolina rig (1/2 oz – 1oz sliding egg sinkers above a 4/0 octopus hook snelled directly onto the main line). First time I got nothing but snags. Patrick did amazing though!

He started with an eel

We released it since neither of us wanted to deal with cleaning one. After he just kept following it up with fish!

Originally planned to make a run down to Pebble Beach in Carmel, but the forecast said 13mph wind by 12pm. Wanted nothing to do with that. I’ll hit up Stillwater Cove some other day.

Decided I’d give the north jetty at Half Moon Bay a shot. Wanted to get there by 630/7am to pump up some yabbies, but woke up at 9am still feeling groggy… Hopped into the shower, grabbed my gear and was off.

Parked the car at the lot for the north jetty around 10:30am and headed out. I didn’t bother fishing until I was at the last bend.

half moon bay harbor

North jetty is the one in the bottom left side. I started fishing at the second bend (1st bend closest to shore).

There were a ton less bites than I expected. Somewhat disappointed, but can’t complain about the quality of the fish I did bring home. Bounced over an area with squid with no luck. Swapped to a 2″ berkley gulp shrimp, and suddenly FISH WAS ON!

Sorry for the delay, been busy & sleeping really badly. Wake up in the mornings 2 hours after I aim to get up still feeling like a rock. Maybe I should really actually fall asleep before 2am for once this week =.=

Anyhow headed out Tuesday for a breather. Didn’t feel like continuing to work after work, and wanted something exciting so I wound up hitting up my shallow spot to see if I could expand my knowledge. Pretty much got skunked this time around, not really sure why. I think its because the tide was higher this time compared to last time I showed up…wasn’t bouncing in the same spots. Left with only 1 bite, but at least I landed it. Tiny little rock cod <5″. Threw it back and headed to deeper waters.

Despite it being rather calm in the harbor, it was a slow night. I did get to use my 1/4oz jig though, which was nice. Hooked into maybe 6-7 fish for an hour or two’s fishing. Not bad, but by no means the best ever. Here’s the catch of the night:

Been out fishing the half moon bay jetties three or four times. Only have pictures from two trips, other trips was busy/lazy.

Lost my glasses on one trip too :[ Right under the 51 marker on the south jetty, harbor side. A fly attacked my face, I shook my head, and my glasses went flying…Turns out they sink pretty damn fast T.T Tried for 10-15 minutes to hook it, but couldn’t find it at the bottom. qq
So we have this running joke that I give blood tributes to the jetty in exchange for a plethora of fish. Basically I get cut/hurt/bleed just about every time we go out fishing, so its become tradition. We also noticed that after I start bleeding the fishing picks up. Also there is a direct correlation in amount of blood lost to amount of fish caught…

Anyways! in exchange for my glasses (200+$…I pulled out all the stops since I figured I’d have it for years…just bought it 2 months ago T.T) I pulled up a cabezon minutes later. A 13″ cabezon. I have never been stricken by a want to poach so badly in my life. Dear gawd. $200 for an undersized cabezon…TO LOOK AT? VERY FUNNY JETTY. Here’s the cabezon that almost didn’t get away :

Went out and fished the HMB jetty & pier on 12/15 with my brother. We started off on the half moon bay pier. Rigged up with 1/4oz leadhead jigs. I was using berkley gulp camo sandworms, my bro was using chunks of frozen anchovy.

We kept feeling something tapping around the inside corner of the L, but couldn’t get anything to commit. Whatever it was managed to snap 8lb line in a flash. My brother set the hook and then the line broke. Wasn’t even a violent set. Wonder what was going on.

I tried a little bit around him and managed to get a chunk of plastic. Anyone know if there’s like a huge chunk of plastic bag caught up down there? I’ve been multiple times and pulled up large chunks of what seems like a grey plastic bag in the same area. Always throw it away in the trash can on the pier, but odd how it always seems to be there.

I moved closer to the sink and started tossing towards the rocks and working my way back towards the pier. Eventually got a bite and set the hook. Fish on! Was up onto the pier pretty quick though…